For all those WordPress bloggers (myself being one), one of the first things you probably did was attempt to install a new WordPress theme. I can confidently say you’ve probably changed your theme once in a while, and I can very confidently say that you probably spend a lot of time on making modifications to theme. The problem with this is that you are being distracted from your main goal. Blogging.
I can easily understand why themes are so important. Any blogger can, right? Given you use a good theme, you can add all those widgets you crave, and you can improve from a SEO aspect at the same time.
When looking for a theme, what factors are important for one to consider, in order to pick a great WordPress theme? I’ll spoil the surprise below!
Width and Columns
Generally speaking, WordPress themes are either 2 or 3 columns, and usually have a width somewhere between 550 and 1000 pixels wide. If your plan is to blog for recreational purposes (meaning money is not your goal), the 2 column theme is usually the best bet. With less room for images and ads, the site will put extreme emphasis on the sites content (posts).
For those looking to make a profit from blogging, a 3 column WordPress theme is your best bet. With a 3 column theme, you will be able to easily integrate advertisements, and many plugins including some of the following:
- Archives
- Top Commentators
- Recent Comments
- Recent Posts
- Blogroll
- Videos
Compatibility of add-ons
WordPress has an add-on (or plugin) for literally anything you want to do with your blog. Now, finding these plugins may be easy, but installing them properly is not always that easy when your WordPress theme is not that compatible.
Having a theme that has too much code can make things complicated when adding plugins. I always try to go for something quite simple. I guess I’m a simple guy. Themes that use AJAX for example, have lots, and lots of coding. In my eyes, this makes the theme less compatible.
If your theme is too complicated, it may be a headache to even insert that one line of code you need to make a plugin work. This is often the case with advanced AJAX-based WordPress themes that have too many files and heavy coding. I’ve always preferred a simpler themes that stick to the default WordPress theme as much as possible, so I can cut back on the learning curve and just get on with my life.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Many say SEO is over-rated, and feel that if you deliver quality content, you will ultimately get the rankings and attention that your site deserves. I kind of agree, but don’t in a sense. SEO is important in order to receive organic traffic. It is important to make sure the theme does the following:
a) Your sites tags should be formatted correctly. The name of the post should come first, then the name of your blog. Most themes do this by default, but be careful – some don’t.
b) Clean and neat source code. Once again, very important. An external CSS stylesheet is best.
Ease Of Theme
Will the theme be easy to install on a blog of yours that already has content? Will it do so without messing anything up? Personally, I had to look around a lot to find this theme. The majority of others themes did not work properly. What do I mean by “not work properly”? Well, they would mess up images, spacing throughout my posts, list, and so on.
Always be sure to test out a theme before using it as your final one. Do not simply install a WordPress theme, activate it, and not check how it looks on your blog, simply because it looked good in the live preview on the download site. Themes often look different based on the material you had on your site prior to installing the new WordPress theme.
Have spent tons of time on installing themes properly, I’d say everyone’s best bet (given you have some money to spare) is to hire someone to do it for you. In doing so, you will not have to deal with the stress that sometimes is involved with installing WordPress themes, and you can concentrate more on the content of your blog.
Since this post was about WordPress Themes, I’d like to give a mention to my good friend Jason at Random Rants. His blog is really neat — he basically blogs about things he hates. I find it to be a very unique idea, as I’m sure you will. Reason I mention him is that he kindly bought my theme for me. So far everyone likes it, as do I, so thanks Jason!
Also, if you’re looking to buy a new theme, Theme Forest is a great site. Tons and tons of themes! I’m sure you’ll find at least one you’ll like.
Yes, I noticed that I spent so much time on my blog theme problems that I forgot my main goal that is indeed BLOGGING. Well, I can’t really say that I forgot blogging because I really love it, it’s just I spend so much time trying to solve my blog problems…
I’ve been there man! I still blog while I’m working on my theme, but the theme definitely seems to take priority — which shouldn’t be the case. My new theme has made things a lot easier, gladly.
If I may ask, is your theme a paid one, or free?
OMG, you do not know how many times I changed my theme on my first blog. I spent hours changing things on my theme. Each time I changed to a new theme. I wish I how the money and bought thesis from the very beginning. (I don’t even remember if thesis was around when I first started.)
Hahaha! Me too bro. I’ve lost track of all the hours I spent customizing a theme, only to change to another one the next day. Thesis looks great — love the new look for your blog. I was considering buying Thesis, but it was a bit expensive.
Hey, thanks for mentioning my blog in this post. Really appreciate it…
No problem Jason. I’m still getting around to the post about your site. Now that I’m back from Los Angeles, I should post it soon.
By the way, good job in the contest so far. You’re leading the way!
Hahahaaa….I’ve spent ‘way more time trying on themes in the past year than I have writing posts. I think I finally got Thesis just because it will be a stop to all that wasting time browsing for new themes – white themes, tech themes, SEO themes, etc!
Your theme looks wonderful, by the way!
I’m with you Christie. I did the same, until I found this theme. Glad you like it! Your theme looks great as well. I’ve heard a lot about Thesis, and would have bought it — just a bit short on money though!
I still spend a certain amount of time looking at my theme to always make it better and more professional.
A theme must be able to change it with as few clicks as possible. With Thesis and many other themes, you can change the width, columns, colours, fonts, etc.
I do understand that not many know PHP and CSS, but I have learned everything myself and I still find myself learning something new every week.
Great to see that you’re still learning George. I’m in the same situation as you. I don’t use Thesis, as it was a bit expensive for me, but my theme is still pretty customizable. I’ve seen some pretty bad themes out there.
Some knowledge of PHP and CSS always helps. I’ve learned a lot about the two ever since I started blogging.
A great read when I am considering to work on a very simplistic theme. Donno how far I would succeed but wanted to try at least once.
I am a newbie to PHP, but as I work a bit I can understand the concepts and programming as I am quite comfortable with Java.
Suneel,
Your theme looks great. I like simple, as do many others. I don’t like themes that have too much colors, widgets, etc.. I like a theme that is easy is on the eyes, just like yours.
Good to see you know some PHP, and are good with Java. I only know a tiny bit of PHP. Barely though!
I think this was the first thing i looked into before even thinking of what i wanted to blog about! I try not to let it bother me too much, but it is always in the back of my mind as well! Great article.
First of all, thanks for coming by Josh!
Pretty sure it was the first thing I looked into as well. A blog is close to nothing if it doesn’t look half decent, ya know?
Greatings, Where are you from? Is it a secret?
No secret at all!
I’m from the USA.